OPEN DISCUSSION TOPIC V

Favorite Car Decade?

What decade do you like the most when it comes to classic cars?  For most of us it is the decade in which we were ages 15-25.  For others it was their grandparents car.  Whatever the decade, the great American automobile manufacturers continually teased us with styling, performance, colors, and options all to make our mode of transportation as personable as our homes in which we live.  Let's take a brief look back at the changes we have seen from the center of the axle to the top of the vehicle.

Pre World War I......

This is a pretty simplistic time.  A time when a automobile was simply a powered open carriage.  Henry Ford and the Model T, produced 1908-1928.  The upscale Model T, the Oldsmobile.  People cared more about getting from point A to point B in 1 piece more than they cared about the style.  This is of course more of a reference to the roads traveled than the vehicles which traveled the roads.  More often than not, those "old school"  horseback riders would gallop past an automobile in a ditch or a mud puddle stuck and just shake their heads as we do now when we drive past people riding horseback.

1905 Studebaker

Ford Model T   1910 Oldsmobile

1920's - The First Decade of Style and Design

As we advance past World War I we see the massive efforts of individuals turning their barns into automotive design studios attempting to break into the market of producing automobiles.  Literally there were hundreds of car manufacturers trying to climb the pyramid to financial success.  Mass production manufacturing or low volume efficient assembly became the key to making money and staying in business.  This is of course, after you proved to the market you were reputable and dependable as an automobile manufacturer.  We started to see vehicle options become degrees of separation between manufacturers.  Monsters of the midway these were often called at Fairs and Car Shows.  Glare, glamour, and grace ended the decade with luxury interiors, and more gauges began to appear to assist the driver to monitor the engine.  To enter a car of this vintage is like entering a modern day 4x4 truck - a step-up was required.  There was no need to raise the car to drain the oil, just crawl under.  Engine development also expanded with very large engines appearing between long, large frame rails.  Some hoods extending 6 feet from the firewall to the front of the car.  Enough steel to be equivalent to assembling a modern day railroad car in one passenger car.  I may be wrong but I don't think we saw such a race to market since except maybe the 1980's when there were many companies producing personal computers.

1930's - One Step Backward, Two Steps Forward

This is the decade many manufacturers struggled to survive.  First, the stock market crash of 1931 caused many manufacturers to close their doors or if they were lucky enough get purchased by a more prominent manufacturer.  The glamour and grace of the late 1920's and early 1930's yielded more practical automobiles.  The 1932 Ford help change this image into a much more compact vehicle.  Simultaneously, Ford released a more efficient and compact engine design, the V8 engine.  Timing was appropriate from the leader in automobile assembly efficiency.  America was simply broke and needed yet again a practical and affordable vehicle.  Options continually increased before the 'crash' and Ford simply took the vehicle where is was in the Model T and Model A days back to its roots - automobile basics in a simple package.  This lead to a revolution of coupes and sedans all designed around a smaller and shorter vehicle stance.  We still see the exterior fenders until roughly 1936/1937 when fenders were more incorporated into the vehicle design rather than an add-on to the vehicle.  Fenders were now being widened and elongated to capture more than just the tire itself, encapsulating the entire front of the vehicle from the firewall forward.  In the late 1930's we started to see shorter wheelbases and stouter bodies.  More curves, headlights became incorporated into the fenders rather than a protrusion.  Interiors becoming more adaptable to the modern day cars rather than a box with a seat bolted in it (leather or not, cheap or expensive, from Ford to Duesenburg - all the same).  From what I have learned, this seems to be the decade where people started to scrounge the junkyards to find parts ad pieces to make their 'own' or modified car.  The garage tinkering was becoming a more common practice to the automobile hobbyists rather than 20 years prior where the garage tinkering was more an effort to design or create an automobile.  Think of these people as first generation "Plug and Players" using various car parts to achieve their goal.

In years to come these cars became great for the gasser wars on the drag strips across America.  Their tight interiors and overall small bodies made them a favorite to stuff large horsepower engines for a combination lethal on the quarter-mile strip.

1940's - World War II and the end of the Fender

America focuses on the war effort and automobile production comes to a standstill.  Automotive assembly plants are turned into war vehicle and artillery plants.  Our young garage hobbyists are headed into Europe or Asia to fight for freedom.  Wood replaces steel in the production of the automobile.  Steel was preserved for war vehicles.  The 'Woody' is born.  A unique concept in automotive design - incorporate wood into the body.  The bodies became as compact as we would see for the next 20+ years.  Styling throughout the 1940's was straightforward across all manufacturers - clean and simple.  The line between economical and exquisite designs had very little separation - in fact probably the closest they have ever come in automotive design.  The fenders became further incorporated into the front end.  The grille migrated from a simple radiator shield to a full frontal guard across the front end as the front of the fenders became flat faced.  What used to look like 'eyes and a nose' on a automobile became 'eyes and a mouth' to humanize the design change.  America loved it - everyone simply loved the large grilles.  The chrome and the designs formed the foundation for automotive design for the next 20 years.  These are the years we now refer to as Fat Fendered.

1957 Plymouth Belvedere

1960 Dodge Dart

1950's - First Generation Muscle Cars/Fins are In

Why is this the First Generation Muscle Car?  Simple - engines became as critical a topic in this decade as the body designs were.  In the early late 1940's and early 1950's we saw the birth of the Chrysler Firepower Hemi, the Oldsmobile Rocket, and the Buick Nailhead.  Probably near the top of the horsepower war was the Hudson.  These developments led to the introduction of the longest running production engine ever - the Chevrolet Small Block V8 in 1955.  The home hobbyists had many engine and car combinations to unite horsepower and body together.  With increased horsepower came increased body size and weight.  The automobile designs became small parade floats as the rear fins grew longer and the hood decks extended.

One of the most successful 3-year design succession launched in automotive history was the launch of the 1955 Chevrolet through the 1957 Chevrolet.  Chevrolet started from a blank piece of paper and delivered a model that followed the Ford history pattern:  a smaller budget vehicle with few options coming in many different trim styles.  The most amazing transformation through these 3 years was the front and rear-end body style re-tooling.  Literally these were 1 year production designs.  A feat nearly unheard of today, in the world of computers and computer aided design.  By the end of the decade, we saw very large engines and very heavy cars.  The early fifties automobiles produce the traditional 'Lead Sled' customized look while the later fifties designs give us great styling with the large fins restored to become great classics.  A 1959 Plymouth Belvedere could look sinister and a 1959 Cadillac portrayed glamour.  During this decade we also saw larger people transporters emerge with the station wagons and Suburban style trucks.  Gadgets, the late 1950's introduced us to gadgets and chrome.  Entire hardtops that could automatically be stored in the truck to become an instant convertible.  These Ford 'retractables' were just one form of a removeable hardtop as Chevrolet did the same with the Corvette as it was growing in popularity.   How much chrome can you squeeze across the front end of a late 1950's automobile?  It seemed like a competition to have the entire front end of your car blinding the oncoming traffic.

The North American Automobile Shows became huge stages for the manufacturers to show-off wild and crazy concepts during these 'let your hair down' years.  We started to see more standard options appear on these models.  While America was in the baby boom and suburban housing developments were expanding daily, so were the options for the automotive buyer.

1960's - Classic Muscle Cars

The desire to produce a smaller car yielded more economical cars.  The definition of smaller did not meant compact, it simply meant shortening the wheelbase, truck length and hood deck.  Practical - that is what the cars of the early 1960's became.  Continual experimentation such as the rear-engine Corvair modeled after the successful German Volkswagen although not as widely accepted in the States as it was in Europe.  Styling within reason and simply a means of transportation.  The smaller car trend continued as the engines continually grew in cubic inch output.  Add this together and you get a very large displacement engine in a very small car.  Translation:  Muscle Car.  The muscle car revolution happened by chance and through the growth of the Factory Race wars.

In both road racing in Europe and the birth of factory drag racing classes a production platform was required to enter these classes.  First, the birth of the Ford Pony - the Mustang.  The Mustang was literally produced so Ford could compete in European road rally racing series.  In parallel was the Ford Cobra and soon thereafter came the GT40.  Not to be left behind, Chevrolet released the Camaro in 1967.  These cars were literally released to the public with 6-cylinder engines of small V-8's for the public to have a street version of these race cars.  The public gladly accepted.  The Factory drag race wars continually led to larger engine development and these engines were required to be placed into factory cars to enable the manufacturers to compete in the races.  The cubic inch numbers:  427, 429, 440, 396, 426.  The miles per gallon (mpg) ratings - well, it didn't matter.

The Chrysler family (Plymouth, Dodge) continually leaned to the Factory Race Cars and produced quite a range of 2-door coupes all physically capable of housing the dimensionally largest engine of the time - the 426 Hemi.  The Satellite, Charger, Barracuda (Cuda), SuperBee, Challenger, Dart, GTX, Road Runner, Duster/Demon, and SuperBird.  Of all the manufacturers, Chrysler aggressively went after the market the hardest with such a line-up of coupe styles.  Chevrolet and Ford had fewer styles while offering more engine options.  Of all the muscle cars, these cars were very simplistic in design and stuffed with various horsepower combinations.  Horsepower, it was all about horsepower.  The introduction of the shaker hood - a portion of the hood which was mounted to the engine and not connected to the hood itself.  Shaking from the rumble of the engine, designed to make the competition squirm.

In the end, if the car had 2-doors, it was maxed with horsepower and if it had 4 doors it still had a large engine - early day 'grocery getters.'  Everyone was well aware of the race wars with hood racing stripes and side performance stripes and markings such as 500GT appearing on many vehicles from the factory.  Performance from the factory - the automobiles of the 1960's.

1970's - Government Regulatory Intervention:  The Dark Years

The muscle car wars reached a pinnacle in the early 1970's with the 454 being stuffed into many GM vehicles.  Like a switch, it all stopped in 1973 - the first year of emissions control and governmental regulation.  So it all ended including the styles.  The styles now ventured back to long deck hoods this time with shorter trunks.  Monster cars with large engines being held to reserve output through an overload of emissions control items.  our trucks at one time had big block engines producing nearly 275 horsepower now producing less than 200 with the same engine.  This led to the development of smaller cubic engines and also compact cars.   The Ford Pinto, the Chevrolet Monza, the AMC Gremlin.  Much smaller transporters taking us to/from our jobs in an effort to reduce smog through engine output restrictions.  Many people groan over the styling of a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass - I would take one any day over a 1994 Ford Taurus.  In the late 1970's we started to see the start of the last of the rear wheel drive cars - square shaped sedans and coupes.  We lost the long swooping curves and the multitude of individual style.  Automotive design became extremely conservative.  If horsepower could not exist, then why should glamour and grace?  Did we like these cars?   Today, nearly 40 years later, we still have a hard time accepting the automotive designs of this decade.  The classic car market makes little room for 1973-1979 models.

1980's - The End of Rear Wheel Drive

For all of us 'old' school' types this is it, the last of 'rear-wheel drive, I can work on it at home cars'.  This is the last of the 'cab rearward' designs with full frames and V-8 engines (in limited models).  We saw little glamour, more practicality and a growing concern over estimated gas mileage.  What were high end features in the 1970's were becoming quite common in the 1980's such as electric windows, leather interior, power locks, 4-speaker stereos, and switched interior lights.  The manufacturers engine development led to higher horsepower ratings while still meeting the government emission requirements.  Buick launched a turbo V-6 in 1982 that monopolized performance reaching a peak in 1986 with the limited production 300hp GNX.  Other cars such as the 1982-1984 Hurst/Olds and the Monte Carlo SS offered us an attempt at recognizing factory performance cars.  A paradigm shift occurred in automotive design studios when front wheel drive models nearly ended all rear wheel drive model production in 1989.  Front wheel drive in addition to computer control and transverse mounted engines left us in total dismay with regard to garage hobbyists.  No longer did the junk yard engine swap provide instant power gratification.  V8 engine swaps with front wheel drive vehicles require complete reconstruction of the suspension, a feat left for the more advanced shops.  

In the end, we love our automobiles.  We love the designs.  We criticized little and begged for more.  Every year we eagerly awaited the new designs.  Our passion for uniqueness extends today.  We love the marriage of power and styling.  Once, we lost power (early 1970's) we still had styling.  Styling has always been consistent - you can expect change and the change is welcomed.....once accepted.

The more things change the more they stay the same, we have all heard that and it certainly applies to automotive design.  Let's look at some items which offer us thoughts and considerations of the past 100 years:

• The V8 Engine - what else is there to say?
• Through the evolutionary changes, rubber still rules the road for tires
• We will never see a muscle car era again like the 1960's:  chassis, body, engine - as simple as that!
• Long hoods generally signify a luxury car
• In the Classic Car World, the air cleaner belongs on top of the carburetor
• In the Classic Car World, high beam lights are best operated from a foot switch
• Center consoles are generally reserved for sport cars
• Engine gadgets never stick:   turbochargers, superchargers
• If it came with chrome bumpers, it is not front wheel drive (El Dorado exempt)
• Classic Car guys LOVE chrome

We all have our favorite body styles and our own reasons why.  Me?  My favorite will always be a 1955 Chevrolet.  In a close second, I like all the others.  I have discovered when made right, any vehicle makes an excellent hot rod and a restored car or a well preserved stock car should never be made into anything other than its original equipment all intact.

Where do you stand on this topic?

J. Shelton